Leceister to honor late owner with statue outside King Power Stadium

A big screem commemorates Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha ahead of the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC at Emirates Stadium on November 3, 2018 in London, United Kingdom.

A big screem commemorates Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha ahead of the Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC at Emirates Stadium on November 3, 2018 in London, United Kingdom. (Julian Finney / Getty Images)

AFP

Leicester's late owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha will be immortalised with a memorial statue at the King Power Stadium after his death in a helicopter crash.

Thai billionaire Vichai was among five people killed when his helicopter crashed outside the King Power following Leicester's match against West Ham on October 27.

Mourning fans have turned Leicester's stadium into a shrine for Vichai over the last two weeks and his son, Leicester's vice-chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, revealed there will now be a permanent reminder of the charismatic owner in the form of the statue.

Leicester supporters will pay an emotional tribute to Vichai when the Foxes host Burnley on Saturday in the team's first home game since the crash.

"We will never be able to repay what he did for us -– for me as his son, us as his family, everyone connected to Leicester City and beyond -– but we are committed to honouring his memory and upholding his legacy," Aiyawatt wrote in Saturday's match programme.

"Our continued growth as a club, our state-of-the-art new training ground and our planned stadium expansion will help realise his vision for Leicester City.

"I plan to commission a statue of my father, for outside King Power Stadium, as a permanent and fitting tribute to the man that made it all possible.

"He will forever be in our hearts. He will never be forgotten."

In the eight years since the Srivaddhanaprabha family bought Leicester in 2010, Vichai helped transform the club beyond all recognition.

They won the Premier League title as 5,000-1 outsiders in 2016 and played in the Champions League for the first time the following season.

Plans for Saturday's game against Burnley include gifts of commemorative scarves, pin badges, clap banners and the souvenir programmes for supporters in attendance, while a 'Tribute to Khun Vichai' video will be shown on the big screens before kick-off.